Starring
Scarlett Johansson, Kate McKinnon, Jillian Bell, Ilana Glazer, and
Zoë Kravitz, Rough Night is about five
friends from college who reunite when they rent a beach house in
Miami for a wild bachelorette weekend that goes completely off the
rails. Just when all hope is lost, they realize there’s more to the
story than they could’ve ever imagined.

The
unsung hero of the film is actor Ryan Cooper, who plays Jay. “This
was one of the hardest roles to cast because we had to find somebody
who was willing to play a dead person,” says co-star and producer
Paul W. Downs. “There is only one scene with dialogue and then he
plays a dead person for the rest of the film, but he's also a huge
piece of the movie. We are so lucky that we found Ryan because he's
physically gifted, funny, but also he let himself go through torture.
He was thrown out of cars, put into the ocean, stuffed into things
that he shouldn't have been stuffed into. He did an incredible job of
playing dead.”

Producer
Matt Tolmach says that Cooper proved to be an incredibly gifted
physical comedian. “It’s an incredibly challenging role, because
you can’t react to any of the craziness happening around you,” he
notes. “Playing dead isn’t just playing dead – there’s a way
to do it that is real and funny. He created a presence in his
deadness, whether it was getting dumped off the jet ski or hitting
his head or popping his eyes open after Kate McKinnon tries to close
them. These are acting moments, and he did it brilliantly.”

Moving
a human being put the girls’ strengths to the test. “The most
difficult thing to do was lifting a dead body,” says castmember
Jillian Bell. “It’s surprising what a workout it is. We said that
by the end of filming, we would be in good shape just carrying around
this dead man.”

To
become a corpse, Cooper entered into an opened eyed, meditative state
where he enjoyed being a voyeur of the action going on around him. “I
find playing dead relaxing,” says Cooper. “I meditated for an
hour and a half, focusing on one point, as a little prep.”

“Most
of the time I keep my eyes open,” continues Cooper. “It’s been
hilarious seeing the girl’s reactions and having a hand in a face,
a face in a face, a foot in a face, and showered by spittle.”

Ryan
Cooper was born in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea to an Australian
missionary family. His father traveled through PNG, Vanuatu,
Australia and New Zealand. After high-school in Auckland New Zealand,
Ryan worked as a Carpenter for six years but rose quickly to fame in
2008 after he was featured in the DKNY Jeans campaign with Bahati
Prinsloo. His rugged good looks landed him campaigns for Armani
Exchange with Izabel Goulart, Hugo Boss underwear, Trussardi Jeans
and Esprit underwear with Gisele and Erin Wasson. He's been seen in
television commercials around the globe for brands such as Paramount
pictures, Garnier, Macy's and Just Jeans.

From
fashion, Ryan continued to extend his reach into film and television.
Ryan continues to build his body of work spending time writing,
directing and developing skills in all areas of the film world. His
short film Left Behind, is about the confrontation
between a mother struggling with her depression and a son's resolve
and unorthodox method of helping her see reason. It was inspired by
the loss of loved ones and in a effort to raise awareness for "the
blackdog institute" who research and help monitor depression and
other mental illnesses.